This invention relates generally to standard electrical wall fixtures such as light switches and power outlets, and more particularly to an adapter serving to protrude the fixture outside of the wall outlet box in which it is nested to the extent necessary to project the fixture through an opening in a fabric wall covering spaced from the wall.
Baslow U.S. Pat. No. 4,018,260 discloses an arrangement of border pieces attachable to a wall to create a framework for supporting a fabric wall covering. In this arrangement, the fabric covering does not lie directly against the wall but is spaced therefrom, the fabric being tensioned by the border pieces to present a smooth surface. As pointed out in this patent, many advantages are gained in spacing a fabric covering from a wall; for imperfections, cracks and other irregularities in the wall surface are concealed by the tensioned fabric and are not reflected in the fabric surface as is the case when a fabric covering is directly adhered to the wall.
The Tombu U.S. Pat. No. 3,833,046 and the Billarant U.S. Pat. No. 3,657,850 also disclose wall mountings for fabric coverings in which the fabric is spaced at least one quarter of an inch from the surface of the wall. Fabric wall coverings of the type disclosed in the Baslow, Tombu and Billarant patents create a problem when the wall being covered has a standard electrical light switch or power outlet installation.
In a standard light switch installation, the switch is fully nested within an outlet box embedded in the wall, the toggle or actuator of the switch projecting through an opening in a face plate which overlies the box and is secured to the switch. Should one seek to accommodate a fabric wall covering of the above-described type to a standard light switch by cutting an opening in the fabric to permit the switch toggle to project therethrough, and then sandwich the fabric between the switch and the face plate attached thereto, this acts to distort the surface of the fabric. The reason for this is that the fabric covering is then spaced from the wall except at the switch installation where the plate presses the fabric against the wall.
In order to avoid such distortion, one could attach a spacer plate over the switch, and then sandwich the fabric between this plate and the face plate. But then the switch toggle is partly buried in the spacer plate and is difficult to manipulate. A similar problem arises when the fixture is in the form of a power outlet to receive the plugs of electrical appliances.